Thomas Meehan

Thomas Meehan III (8 July 1921-6 June 1944) was a US Army First Lieutenant who commanded Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, US 506th Infantry Regiment during World War II. He was killed during Operation Overlord, and Richard Winters took over company command.

Biography
Thomas Meehan III was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 8 July 1921, and he attended Germantown High School and the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Arts before becoming a commercial artist. On 16 March 1941, he enlisted in the US Army before graduation, and he replaced Captain Herbert Sobel as commander of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, US 506th Infantry Regiment while serving with Baker Company in England in 1944. On 6 June 1944, during D-Day, Meehan's plane was hit with Flak 88 fire and downed, and it crashed near Beuzeville-au-Plain, Normandy, France, killing Meehan and all aboard, including the company headquarters group. The wreckage of the plane wasn't found until 1952, and he was listed as MIA before his body was taken to St. Louis, Missouri for burial.